Episode 219 - Listener Spring Question

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·9m 3s·analyzed·Oct 16, 2015

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.012

TL;DR

EM pinball spring identification and diagnosis guidance for stepper units

Summary

Nick Baldridge responds to listener Adam Godfrey's question about identifying and diagnosing worn stepper unit springs in electromechanical pinball machines. Nick explains methods for identifying correct spring specifications using parts catalogs or comparison with similar units, and provides detailed guidance on diagnosing spring wear through physical inspection and functional testing, including recognizing signs of deformation, improper tension, and coil stretching.

Key Claims

Springs lose tension and are often manipulated by pulling coils without cutting excess, leaving visible dangling spring material
high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing common spring wear patterns in EM machines
Relay buzzing noise and visible armature plate movement indicate deformed springs that are too loose
high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining relay spring failure symptoms
Stepper spring tension problems are harder to diagnose than other common issues like improper spider tension, clock spring winding, or part misalignment
high confidence · Nick Baldridge on troubleshooting stepper rebuild difficulties
Spring replacement is relatively rare in EM pinball maintenance
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge's closing statement on frequency of spring replacement
Nick Baldridge recently worked on a Bikini machine with a spring problem that required adjustment
high confidence · Nick Baldridge mentioning recent restoration work with spring issues

Notable Quotes

“Look for a unit nearby that uses similar springs and make sure that they look the same. If the springs look the same, then chances are good that they're unmolested, and it's relatively rare that a spring would be substituted.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~6:00 — Core practical advice for identifying correct spring specifications without parts catalogs
“What happens more frequently is that the spring loses tension and then is manipulated in some way to make it work. This is usually easy to see as well, because at least in the games that I work on, what they will do is pull several coils and not bother to cut off the excess, and so you have half of a spring hanging above the area where it clips on.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~7:00 — Describes common field repair pattern that creates visible diagnostic indicator of worn springs
“If the spring is deformed, what you're going to hear is a really loud buzzing noise. You'll probably also see, if you observe the plate, you'll see it move around. And it should not.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~10:00 — Provides sensory diagnostic cues for identifying relay spring failure
“Spring tension problems are one of the harder things to diagnose because there are three or four other things which are much more common that you run into before you hit improper spring tension.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~13:00 — Establishes diagnostic priority hierarchy for stepper troubleshooting

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonAdam GodfreypersonFor Amusement OnlyorganizationPinball ResourcecompanyBikinigame

Signals

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restoration_signal: Detailed guidance on spring inspection, identification, and diagnostic methodology for EM pinball stepper and relay units
high · Nick Baldridge provides systematic approach to spring problem diagnosis through physical inspection and functional testing
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restoration_signal: Common field repair pattern of spring coil pulling without cutting excess material, creating visible diagnostic indicators
high · Nick describes observing half-springs hanging above clip areas as evidence of previous repair attempts
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technical_signal: Multi-factor troubleshooting hierarchy for stepper problems, with spring tension issues ranked as lower probability than alignment, winding, or contamination issues
high · Nick explains process of elimination approach for identifying spring problems in stepper rebuilds

Topics

Spring identification and specificationprimaryEM pinball maintenance and repairprimaryStepper unit troubleshootingprimaryRelay diagnosticssecondaryParts sourcing for restorationsecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.027

What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only, this is Nicholas Baldridge. We got a call on the bingo's line. Hello Nick, it is Adam Godfrey. First of all, happy anniversary, that is wonderful. What a great weekend to have your anniversary around the York weekend. So also, happy York weekend. I feel you. My anniversary is October 19th, and so that is squarely over Expo weekend. So we have to kind of share going on romantic trips for our anniversary and going to Expo. So it's a great way to remember when my anniversary is, which is great. So happy anniversary, happy org weekend. My question, I was listening to your episode today, and I kind of wondered about what's the best way to identify the correct spring strength for your stepper units. You know, I'm looking at my springs, and to me they look pretty much all the same. and I'm kind of wondering, you know, how, if I need to go to Pinball Resource and order a new one, how do I tell which spring I need to get? You may have covered this on a previous episode and, you know, I have actually listened to all of them, so if you did, I obviously missed it, so let's get a refresher course. All right, thanks so much. Have a great weekend. Adam, first of all, thank you very much for your well wishes. for those of you listening, this was my 10th anniversary and my gracious and patient wife let me spend it in York, Pennsylvania away from her, away from the kids and with my pinball friend so she is something else and this weekend we going to celebrate our anniversary so we very excited about that But Adam in answer to your question I don't know if I did cover that on a previous episode, and if I did, everybody gets to hear it again. So, the way that you know if a spring is worn out or needs to be replaced is either by having the parts catalog, which will show you the correct length of spring and diameter of spring used, and then you can use that as your reference part number when you call at Pinball Resource, or just do what I do and take a look at the unit and see the springs that it uses. Look for a unit nearby that uses similar springs and make sure that they look the same. If the springs look the same, then chances are good that they're unmolested, and it's relatively rare that a spring would be substituted. What happens more frequently is that the spring loses tension and then is manipulated in some way to make it work. This is usually easy to see as well, because at least in the games that I work on, what they will do is pull several coils and not bother to cut off the excess, and so you have half of a spring hanging above the area where it clips on. Again, that's pretty easy to see, and you kind of know that it's happened. Now, how do you know that you need to replace it if it appears to be a spring and is doing the springy thing but maybe it not doing it enough or maybe it doing it too much If it not doing it enough let take the example of not doing enough And instead of focusing on a stepper, let's talk about a relay. So a relay, the spring is involved with pulling the armature plate back up when the relay disengages. So when the electricity is cut off to the coil, the magnetic field collapses and the armature plate moves back up. Now the spring helps hasten it. So, if the spring is deformed, what you're going to hear is a really loud buzzing noise. You'll probably also see, if you observe the plate, you'll see it move around. And it should not. It should be held pretty firmly in place. So that's an example where it's too loose. Now if it's too tight, you can find this out by, let's move back to the stepper again, because it's pretty easy to see this there. If you'll recall, when you rebuild a stepper, you know, you clean everything. You put it all back together. Then you test by stepping to each position and resetting from each position. Step one, reset. Step one, step two, reset, etc. If at any point during your testing it becomes difficult to advance or difficult to reset, one of the culprits could be improper spring tension. tension. And this is one of the harder things to diagnose because there are three or four other things which are much more common that you run into before you hit improper spring tension So basically you have to rule out improper tension on the spider You have to rule out improper number of windings on the clock spring, if it's got one of those. you have to rule out improper alignment of the parts involved, and so forth. You know, dirty coil sleeves, all that kind of stuff. So once you've ruled all that out, and you still have this problem, but only in certain positions, if you don't have some kind of easily discernible mechanical problem, then it's likely a spring issue. Now, I mentioned in my spring episode that I was working on a bikini here recently, and that had a spring problem. It was a little unusual. It was exactly what I'm describing, and it required some quick adjustment, and then everything was good, at least for now. I have replacement springs on the way. So, I hope that answers your question. Let me know if you need any more detail, but that should help you on your way. For the most part, you don't have to mess with springs too often as far as replacement. Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you again for joining me. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com, or you can call me on the bingos line at 724-BINGOS1-724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast, VRSS, on Facebook, on Twitter, at Bingo Podcast, You can follow me on Instagram at nbaldridge, or you can listen to us on our website, which is 4moosemanonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.